Llandeilo backs lantern petition (From South Wales Guardian)

Llandeilo backs lantern petition

6:10am Thursday 1st November 2012 in News

LLANDEILO town council has added its name to a Keep Wales Tidy petition opposing the use of Chinese lanterns.

The Wales-wide scheme looks to get schools, council and community groups to make a pledge promising never to release the lanterns, due to their impact on the countryside, livestock and wildlife.

Signatories of the petition also hope the move will also reduce litter in rural areas.

The use of Chinese lanterns has become a growing problem in recent times and there have been numerous cases of people claiming to have seen UFOs, only for it to be later discovered that the lights in the night sky were in fact Chinese lanterns.

“There have even been cases of people contacting the emergency services reporting they have seen distress flares that then turn out to be these lanterns,”

said clerk Roger Phillips.

“As a rural, agricultural, area it is important that we do everything we can to ensure we help take care of livestock,” said Councillor Chris Parish.